Background

On 30 March the Australian Government announced the JobKeeper Scheme as part of a range of stimulus measures to support the economy in response to COVID-19.

Under the JobKeeper Scheme the Government will pay eligible employers a wage subsidy, being a flat payment of $1,500 per fortnight per eligible employee for up to 6 months.

The intention of the JobKeeper Scheme is to support employers maintain a connection with their employees, enabling businesses to reactivate their operation quickly, without having to rehire staff, when the crisis is over.

The JobKeeper Scheme also provides eligible employers with a range of options to temporarily provide greater flexibility around hours of work for retained staff unable to carry out their usual duties called JobKeeper enabling directions. Greater flexibility has also been introduced regarding the taking of annual leave.

Key dates

Legislation passed Parliament on 8 April and the ATO released a range of Rules shortly thereafter giving effect to the scheme. While the legislation established the schemes framework, the Rules set out a range of important matters including how to determine eligibility for the scheme.

From 20 April an eligible employer can enrol in the scheme using the Business Portal and your myGovID.

From 4 May you can confirm the identity of your eligible employees.

The first payment is expected to be received by businesses by 14 May and will cover the first two ‘jobkeeper fortnights’ which commenced from 30 March.

The JobKeeper Payment will be available in fortnightly instalments until 27 September 2020.